BARCELONAAdobe announced a version of its Air software for smartphones and demonstrated Flash 10.1 running on Google Android-powered phones at the Mobile World Congress here, pledging to extend the company's Flash technology to every smartphone out there, except those made by Apple.

Since the launch of the iPad, Adobe has been under constant fire from Apple and from Apple-centric pundits such as Daniel Eran Dilger and John Gruber, who argue that Flash is a basically worthless technology that needs to be killed off.

Speaking from Adobe's perspective, Flash group manager Adrian Ludwig turned the argument around: Apple is the only manufacturer in a big world of phones who doesn't want to adopt Adobe's standard, he said.

"We're working with the vast majority of the ecosystem to make sure Flash is going to be successful," Ludwig said. "We've got 19 of the top 20 OEM handset manufacturers committed to delivering Flash on their devices."

Flash is installed on almost all PCs worldwide, adds new features much more frequently than the base HTML standard does, and includes features like DRM and adaptive bit rates that are important to content producers, but aren't in the new HTML5 standard, Ludwig said.

Flash is also relatively open, Ludwig said. Adobe has open-sourced the core of the Flash player, made the SWF file specification open, and open-sourced the company's Flex development tool, he said.

"Anybody can build a version of the Flash player," he said.

Technology and content partners are jumping on board with Adobe's Open Screen Project, he said, including the LiMo foundation, ESPN, Nickelodeon and PBS. Support for the OSP implies strong support for Flash and Air.

Flash: It's not just for browsers any more.

Flash developers using the upcoming Flash Professional CS5 will be able to turn their Flash apps into dedicated iPhone or iPad apps ready for submission to the App Store. For other smartphone platforms, Adobe is working on Air.

The new Air for smartphones will debut first on Android later this year, though Adobe is also working on a version for BlackBerry phones. Like Air on the desktop, the platform will allow developers to encapsulate Flash programs and run them as native apps without a browser wrapping them.

"Developers really want to be able to deliver both to the browser and to also go into app stores," Ludwig said. "We're now providing, with Flash Player and Air, the ability for developers to reach all the different business models."

Related

That said, Adobe hasn't decided how Air will be delivered to phoneswhether it will be attached to individual applications or be a separate download, for instance.

Also at the show, Adobe demonstrated Flash 10.1 running on the Google Nexus One and Motorola Droid phones, playing video, running advertisements and playing the popular Farmville video game. In the demo we saw, everything ran smoothly and as well as expected. Video in a 500 kilobit/second stream will generally play at 12-18 frames per second, Ludwig said. Flash 10.1 will run on phones with ARM Cortex-A8 or better processors and 50 Mbytes of available RAM, Ludwig said.

Flash 10.1 will be available for Android, Windows Mobile and Palm WebOS phones sometime in the first half of 2010. Ludwig said.

About the Author

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 13 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, hosts our One Cool Thing daily Web show, and writes opinions on tech and society.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer. Other than ... See Full Bio

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